Water Deionizer/spot free setup

[Joker721]

does anyone have a good spot free at home setup that they recommend ?

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[kilobravo]

Jim: There are a number of choices and I only have experience with one, the CR Spotless DIC-20. It will lower your dissolved solids by a couple hundred parts per million. Some, like myself, only use it for the final rinse while others use it for foaming and rinsing but that will cut the life of the resin in half or more and I don't find that it's worth it for foaming.

I wash the Mustang every couple weeks when it's being driven and the other two maybe every two months or so and with that schedule, I get right at a year on the resin.

Some use bags of resin to recharge the system while others, myself included, use the resin cartridges. Straight resin gives you a bit more capacity but when using the naked resin, it can get on the garage floor and THAT is a major PITA. With those tiny beads going everywhere, you can slip and fall on your butt!

Believe me, I know because I first did this with the house softener where there is no "cartridge" option, just a ten-gallon tank in which to pour the resin.

Shop-Vac to the rescue but what a PITA. Doing it on the garage floor was my mistake and I should have rolled that tank out on the grass! Duh.. So it's doable and you'll save a few bux, it just isn't worth the cost savings to me so I stick with the cartridges.

Bottom line is, if your municipal water supply is moderately low in dissolved solids, a rig like this will give you rinse water that you can actually leave on the vehicle and you'll only get a very few water spots without even a towel or blow drying. Highly recommended. I tested this on my F250 and it worked although I still blow dry (and no water spots.)

 

[boB]

I wash the Mustang with tap water/Griot's Wash and use a distilled water final rinse. If we are not washing the car every other day the $1 for a gallon of distilled water is a lot less $$ than a deionizer/filter.
Purified water shows about 5-20 TDS while distilled shows 0.0.

I am not looking for a concours finish, just a nice clean car with no water spots, ymmv.

 

[DrewT]

I wash the Mustang with tap water/Griot's Wash and use a distilled water final rinse. If we are not washing the car every other day the $1 for a gallon of distilled water is a lot less $$ than a deionizer/filter.
Purified water shows about 5-20 TDS while distilled shows 0.0.

I am not looking for a concours finish, just a nice clean car with no water spots, ymmv.

How do you apply the distilled water for final rinse? Use a spray bottle or pump sprayer of some sort?

 

[boB]

How do you apply the distilled water for final rinse? Use a spray bottle or pump sprayer of some sort?

Garden pump sprayer, marked "distilled only". But I let on that I use a spray bottle to show how dedicated I am. ;)

 

[2021 Mach 1]

Garden pump sprayer, marked "distilled only". But I let on that I use a spray bottle to show how dedicated I am. ;)

Honestly, that's a great idea using distilled. How much do you need to rinse the car well? 1, 2, 3 gallons?

 

[boB]

Honestly, that's a great idea using distilled. How much do you need to rinse the car well? 1, 2, 3 gallons?

1 gallon seems to be enough.

 

[2021 Mach 1]

1 gallon seems to be enough.

I suppose you can rinse off the thick soap with regular water and then immediately give a final rinse with the distilled water.

 

[DrewT]

Sometimes I’ll back the car out when it’s raining to get ‘natural’ distilled water on it and then wipe it off in the garage. Spot free every time.

 

[boB]

I suppose you can rinse off the thick soap with regular water and then immediately give a final rinse with the distilled water.

Yep, that's what I do. And our regular water has a high TDS so it is important to rinse it quickly.

 

[Joker721]

Garden pump sprayer, marked "distilled only". But I let on that I use a spray bottle to show how dedicated I am. ;)

What garden sprayer do you use?

 

[Postal Bob]

Sometimes I’ll back the car out when it’s raining to get ‘natural’ distilled water on it and then wipe it off in the garage. Spot free every time.

Rain water is far from being distilled. Plenty of dissolved solids in rain water, especially during pollen season. That's how rain happens; moisture condensating on particulates in the atmosphere. Plus, ever hear of "acid rain"?

 

[DrewT]

Rain water is far from being distilled. Plenty of dissolved solids in rain water, especially during pollen season. That's how rain happens; moisture condensating on particulates in the atmosphere. Plus, ever hear of "acid rain"?

Of course but there are no hard water minerals in it. It might as well be distilled compared to the 250 PPM water that comes from the ground where I live. Horrible water spots are guaranteed if I wash my car at home. Not a problem if I wipe off the car after a rainfall.

 

[boB]

What garden sprayer do you use?

It looks like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Chapin-Inter...70&sprefix=garden+sprayer,aps,150&sr=8-5&th=1

 

[Joker721]

I ordered one from Scott’s for 85 bucks. I will post my review on it.

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